The presidential hopeful stopped by an exclusive Kentfield estate on Sunday for a fundraising reception that drew more than 300 supporters with guests paying $2,300 each.

[snip]

The 46-year-old Democratic senator started the day in Atherton [really rich people], made his way to Marin [really rich people] and then was due in at the Getty [plutocrats] mansion in San Francisco for another event.

Actually, the political pandering from Obama, on the one hand, and the stupid fawning from the rich, on the other hand, wasn’t what I found so irritating about the IJ article. Politics in America is, after all, mostly about power, and Obama looks as if he will have the power and these people think that they can buy access. End of story.

Nope. What irritated me was the way in which a career member of the military ended up inadvertently being used as Obama’s campaign pawn:

A U.S. soldier in Iraq will have a special message from Sen. Barack Obama awaiting him when he returns to Marin.”Ronan, thank you for your service,” Obama wrote Sunday on the bill of a canvas hat that belonged to Capt. Ronan Kennedy, of Kentfield.

[snip]

“I’ve got my knickers in a knot,” Noreen Kennedy said. “Just the fact that he took the time to talk to me, it was unbelievable. That man is simply amazing. You could just feel his presence.”

“He asked me how long had my son been in Iraq,” Kennedy said. “I told him this was his second tour of duty. He just shook his head. You could see he could feel your pain. I feel like I just met the Pope.”

Ronan Kennedy, 27, grew up in Kentfield, attended Kentfield schools and graduated from Redwood High School in 1999. He was redeployed to Iraq last September and his tour won’t be up until January of next year.

“I asked him if he could help bring my son home,” Kennedy said. “He said, ‘We’re working on it.'”

I appreciate that a Mom wishes her son to be safe, but I do wonder how much Capt. Kennedy appreciates being used for political purposes by a man who plans to undo everything for which Capt. Kennedy has fought.

Also, one has to wonder about the tense dynamics in the Kennedy house, where the son is career military, and the Mom is a peace activist. Those must be some Thanksgiving dinners there!

UPDATE: Welcome, Zombietime readers. I dislike Obama a great deal, and waste way too much of my time blogging about him. If you’d like to see more of my Obama posts, you’ll find a listing here.

And Zombie, if you check back here, I just wanted to say that I think you are a brilliant photojournalist and I very much appreciate your nod in my direction.